The present invention relates to Internet Data Centers used as server farms wherein it is necessary to cool heat-generating elements and relates in particular to an air flow management system for an Internet Data Center.
An Internet Data Center (IDC) is a room wherein server farms with rows of cabinets side by side in very large numbers are located. The cabinets include data processing elements which generate heat. Accordingly, they need to be cooled by locating the cabinets on perforated tiles of an elevated floor having cool air supplied under the tiles. The openings in the tiles, perforated cabinet fronts and rear doors are today the fundamental means of cooling the heat-generating elements stored in each cabinet. By controlling the flow of the fresh air and the size of the various tile openings, the airflow through the door and therefore the temperature in the cabinet may be controlled. To improve the heat dissipation of each element, the cabinet may be equipped with its own fan that creates a forced air flow in the cabinet. However, such equipment may be not adequate to air-condition rooms that do not have enough static pressure under the elevated floor.
Often, expensive uninterruptible power systems (UPS) are installed for both the data processing elements and fan-powered cooling assemblies. Existing cabinet installations used as server farms waste available UPS power because no method exists to minimize the fan energy as a percentage of the power required to cool the critical computer and other electronic equipment installed in the cabinets.
Another problem raised in the cabinet systems wherein additional fans overcome the lack of a main fan system is that the additional fans may interfere with the fan parameters of the electronic equipment, as each unit of electronic equipment may also have its fan system, and therefore put at risk the reliability established by the manufacturers of the electronic equipment.
An important failure of today""s systems is that they are not readily adjusted to the environment. Openings in the tiles are defined by design rules that do not take into account equipment specifications. Accordingly, today""s systems fail to a great extent to properly control cooling capacity and static pressure, often requiring a cabinet to be unloaded and tipped for performing adjustments. Furthermore, recycling loops occur between the front side and the rear side of the cabinet rows resulting in a static pressure which is not controlled as required. Such cooling capacity problems cannot be solved because the need for continuous data and telecommunication processing prevents any interruption of the operation of the equipment. Retrofitting existing cabinets with on-line processing load is nearly impossible without risk, such a procedure relating to the cooling capacity and pressure under the elevated floor and the need to insure that each cabinet drains off minimum cooling air and produces minimum pressure drop.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide an air flow management system for an Internet Data Center, wherein the static pressure of the air is easily controlled in order to avoid wasting any cooling capacity.
Another object of the invention is to provide an air flow management system for an Internet Data Center, wherein cabinets having different power loads may be located side by side without causing cooling capacity conflicts between adjacent equipment.
The invention relates therefore to an air flow management system for an Internet Data Center comprising a plurality of rows of cabinets containing heat generating elements. The rows are located on an elevated floor and disposed in pairs of rows wherein the front sides of the two rows face each other. Such a system comprises fresh air generating means for supplying fresh air through the elevated floor and hot air collecting means for collecting hot air resulting from the fresh air passing through the heat generating elements. The tops of the two front sides of the two rows in each pair of rows are joined by a cover such that the front sides and the cover constitute a tunnel. Means are included for controlling the volume of fresh air which is supplied through the elevated floor, whereby the static pressure in each tunnel can be controlled depending upon the heat generating elements of the rows in the associated pair of rows.